China rejects FDA warning on toothpaste_(CHINA saying poison levels are safe)

ap ^ | 6/3/07 | By ANITA CHANG, Associated Press Writer

[Flavius]

BEIJING - China rejected a warning issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration urging consumers to avoid using Chinese toothpaste because it may contain a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze.

Calling the FDA warning "unscientific, irresponsible and contradictory," China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement posted on its Web site late Saturday that low levels of the chemical have been deemed safe for consumption.

[Flavius]

low levels of the chemical have been deemed safe for consumption.

their whole country is a low level

[Flavius]

fun for the whole family

[television is just wrong]

why we should not be trading with China.

[Enterprise]

Oh hell, a little poison never hurt anyone. /s

[TLI]

The FDA increased its scrutiny of toothpaste made in China because of reports that the products may contain diethylene glycol, a thickening agent used as a low-cost — but frequently deadly — substitute for glycerin, a sweetener commonly used in drugs.

The agency was not aware of any poisoning but found toothpaste with the chemical in a shipment at the U.S. border and at two bargain retail stores,a Dollar Plus in Miami and a Todo A Peso in Puerto Rico.

Forget that crap and check out a quality product.

http://www.tomsofmaine.com/

[Battle Axe]

At Dollar General I bought some cheap toothpaste that was made in Korea...or at least it was so labeled. It tasted just terrible. I pitched it.

[LiveFreeOrDie2001]

Toothpaste is cheap anyway - why do people resort to buying it from China anyway ??????

[freeangel]

So the FDA is only warning, but not stopping any of these chinese poisons from entering the country?

[Teacher317]

That's rather telling, isn't it? The fact that they do not name the chemical is interesting, too. Lest we not forget, the FDA has set acceptable levels of feces for our foods, too.

Oh, well. The journalism majors get a snazzy headline out of it, anyway.

[Teacher317]

Ooookay... let me retract that post... they name the chemical, diethylene glycol (the poisonous part of coolant, not just "a chemical found in coolant")...

[China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine ] also said European Union standards allow for a certain amount of the chemical and cited a 2000 Chinese study that found toothpaste containing less than 15.6 percent diethylene glycol was not harmful. The Chinese toothpaste the FDA is concerned about contains between 3 percent to 4 percent of the drug, according to the FDA... "Therefore the warning issued by the FDA ... is unscientific, irresponsible and contradictory," the agency said...

Yeah, "only 3-4%" is fine. 15% is where you want to start worrying! /sarcasm>
Here I was assuming that it was parts per billion or something... mea culpa!!!

The FDA alert Friday said the agency found diethylene glycol, or DEG, in three products manufactured by Goldcredit International Trading in China: Cooldent Fluoride, Cooldent Spearmint and Cooldent ICE

Avoid Cooldent, as a start.

[Thermalseeker]

why we should not be trading with China.

Or expecting the gubmint to actually do the job they are hired to do. One sure way to achieve failure is to assign the task to gubmint. Given this sort of abject failure on the part of the FDA, and the myriad of other gubmint agencies, I can't for the life of me figure out these folks who want gubmint controlled socialized medicine. The Feds can't even adequately monitor tooth paste and some Libs want them controlling their health care. What idiots!

[Farmer Dean]

Hey,it’s the retailer’s profit margin that’s important here-not the safety of the customer.

[PGalt]

BUMP

[Overtaxed]

I think I’ll just go back to using baking soda and salt.

[Flavius]

well now you can

make your own food

make your own energy

make your own hygiene products

make your own ...

they call that civilization and industrial revolution

[Gorzaloon]

experts from the Health Ministry had deemed diethylene glycol a "low-level" poison that does not accumulate in the body and found no evidence the substance caused cancer or deformities.

That's right. It's just that on the way through, it wipes out the liver and kidneys.

This, of course, is trivial, because you can always fly to China for replacements. It's a great deal! You live, they get rid of a Falun Gong adherant, and make a lot more money in the process than they do adding antifreeze to toothpaste.

Such a deal.

[Flavius]

they are probably confused how loss of human life is any reason to squash profits

[Buckeye McFrog]

well, it’s only got a little SPAM in it.......

[WilliamofCarmichael]

China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine joins American “free traders” denouncing protectionism!

[em2vn]

I use the non-fluoride tooth paste from that brand but remember that company was bought by one of the large brand makers sometime last year.